Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Having Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential Race could be the best thing that has happened to America...but not for the reasons you may think

Having Mitt Romney in the US Presidential race could be the best thing that has happened to America.

OK, so you support Mitt Romney and toe the Republican line and probably couldn't agree more. Sorry to disappoint, but that's not the reason for my introductory statement.

The reason it's a good thing is because America gets to see that the tax laws of this country unfairly favor the rich and legally allow them to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. We have heard Romney claim he has paid all the taxes he is "legally" obligated to pay. Some of us have heard of situations where some Corporations pay no taxes. We understand that there is a maximum tax rate and an "effective" tax rate. This effective tax rate is usually after the legal loop-holes have been utilized to reduce the maximum rate to Romney's "legally" obligated rate.

The rich may even be involved in some "creative" tax avoidance activity that legally runs amuck, such as what might have happened with Romney's IRA. And now we may get to see this play out in Congressional hearings with Romney or his tax advisors as litigants.

Some Democratic members of Congress have formally filed an official request for an investigation into the activities of such wealthy people as Romney who have found ways to stash upwards of $100 million dollars into their IRA accounts. See this link for the actual letter sent.

Since the average American can legally only deposit $6000 annually (in 2012, if age 50 or older) into an IRA, it is important to know if the actions of Romney and potentially other Americans are illegal. I have previously speculated on one illegal way that this could have happened in an earlier publication. See this link for the original story.

Even if the practice is found to be legal, it could make a big difference in the amount of tax revenue collected. The US Treasury Department may want to seal up this loop-hole.

Perhaps the government is debating on whether to have these hearings now or wait until after the election.

If they have them now, it may cause havoc in the Republican Party, especially if Romney is found to be guilty of tax evasion. If they lose their Presidential candidate, they will be forced to find an alternate, and we the people will have to go through the learning curve all over again.

If they wait until after the Presidential election, since there are two possible outcomes, it could make a difference to history. In the one case where Romney loses, he will just be punished as a citizen criminal. However, if he wins the election, he will have to be impeached.

I'm thinking the government will wait until after the election to carry out this investigation, betting that Romney will not be elected.